arbitro

Millwall are very strong defensively so them scoring first would make it extremely difficult for us. Hopefully the renewed confidence shown in the second half against Sheffield Wednesday and the game against Luton will be evident and we go on to win.

And that is the most pertinent point of the whole sorry saga.

Selling home and away kits with a 30% discount = good. Marketing it as 30% because it's 30 years since we won the Premier League = tacky and lazy. Is this a new low for the Marketeers at Ewood?

Good post and this is just one of many dilemmas that individuals are wrestling with. Ultimately the decision is down to the person buying the ticket(s) and there is absolutely no right or wrong here.

Another entertaining match was seen at the Academy yesterday as the under 18's drew with Stoke. At 3-1 down with very little time to go it seemed we were heading for another defeat but an exceptional comeback was us snatch a point. The stand out performance came from Valentin Joseph who, besides scoring two goals have an orthodox centre forward performance in an almost old fashioned way. He is big and strong and made full use of this and his powerful running caused lots of problems for Stoke. Significantly there were a number of players who started and came on who haven't even started their Scholarships yet and they performed well. One of our substitutes, Alfie McIlroy is, I was told the grandson of Sammy McIlroy who was the last Busby Babe.

There are some excellent photographs in this article.

The season finished with another entertaining goalfest but another defeat. Fulham were too good for us for an hour or so. We couldn't get near them as their quick, incisive play was too much for most of our team. It was no surprise they took the lead but they had a helping hand from O'Grady-Macken who didn't do the basics of clearing the ball from inside his own penalty area. He tried to control a bouncing ball and wanted too much time. The second goal was another error as some indecision between Michalski and Davies allowed a quick thinking Fulham player to get between them and score. The third was from a clear penalty. We made a triple substitution just after the hour and looked better for it. A great strike from Edmondson gave us some hope and it was game on after 86 minutes when Doherty scored. In between we created other chances and had a couple more after this goal but just couldn't score. Despite the comeback it was quite a disappointing match as for an hour our passing and movement was poor and Fulham were better all over the pitch.

I was told on Saturday that Pat Gamble has been released but I haven't seen anything official from the club.

I was referring to the performances against Leeds and Leicester, how we went about the game and how we set up. Can you not see the similarities between yesterday and those games? That was my point. The marked difference from yesterday and pretty much all the recent games has in my opinion been a return of confidence for many players. I see the bigger picture too but I enjoyed that yesterday, the players attitude, the team spirit, the way we went about it but most of all the win.

Confidence doesn't just magically appear. We were absolutely shorn of confidence and the first half against Sheffield Wednesday was probably the lowest point in that respect. Whatever happened at half time did the trick and you could see players growing in confidence after Dolans goal. Yesterday we built on that which I thought was really apparent. I recall two wins and performances last season which were of a similar ilk albeit against better opposition. In terms of defending, counter attacking, stats and professionalism yesterday reminded of Leeds and Leicester last season. We were universally praised for those games but I'm not seeing anywhere near as much praise for yesterday.

He has been on the end of some awful challenges too which put him out. There were two at Leeds and an awful one for which a Luton player was sent off. He was on the receiving end of a couple yesterday.

Some of the posts I have seen are certainly leaning towards disappointment that we won. Does it matter if it was backs to the wall or whatever? On Tuesday I saw signs in the second half of players gaining confidence after an awful run. Yesterday the confidence levels once again increased and I thought we were good value for the win. We had ten men for over forty minutes so of course it was backs to the wall - what did you expect? We could have actually scored twice more on the counter in the second half. I'm one of the first to criticise when we are poor but yesterday we were anything but that.

Bloody hell mate after the run we've been on can you not just enjoy the win. I'm beginning to think that some are disappointed we actually won yesterday.

We lost a lot of industry when Ohashi went off as he was almost a one man press working across the Luton defence. In comparison Gueye seemed lazy although defensively from set pieces he added something. Ohashi had his arm in a sling after the game but there didn't seem to be any undue concern.

Taking the incident to the absolute letter of the law you could find a yellow card but I see many, many incidents where referees are showing much more tolerance on second cautions. I saw one the night before when Cullen committed the worst foul of the match (Burnley v Norwich) but he didn't get a second yellow. Jack Wilshere, one of the Norwich coaches was actually cautioned for his protestations. Yesterday's referee was the epitome of inconsistency and angered players, supporters and officials of both teams.

This clips encompasses why we love football. Tranmere come back to draw after being three down in the twelfth minute of stoppage time. I think we can all equate to those celebrations. A supporters footage of the equaliser.

Not even a detour laden journey down could spoil the day for the travelling Rovers fans. The players seemed to pick up from from where they were at the end of the Sheffield Wednesday game as we started with some intensity and purpose. From the confident start we made my feelings that we were going to get something grew and grew and truthfully the goal didn't come to me as a great surprise. The counter attacking football we were playing was, from a tactical point of view ideal. This was built on a strong defence with the two midfield 'screens' in front of them giving Luton hardly anything in the first half. In real time I didn't appreciate how good the finish actually was. Yuki almost turned side on to flick the ball into the corner. It was almost like a pressure valve had been opened as we went ahead for the first time in ages. The sending off (ridiculously harsh I thought) galvanised us and two sensible substitutions and a slight tactical tweak made us more solid as we had something to defend. And defend we did as tackles, blocks, headers and size 10's saw us through despite the pressure Luton put us under. There were lots of really good performances but Dolan showed what an asset he can be. His prodigious work rate, defensive diligence and eye for a counter attack featured heavily in the win. I'll forgive him for being greedy and not passing to Gueye who would have had a gap in close to the end. I said on Tuesday that you could see some confidence returning to the players and today that carried on. I know it's only one win but I can give Ismael some praise here by saying it was a Eustace like performance that got us the win and the most pleasant journey home from an away match in a long time.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6269885/2025/04/11/premier-league-chelsea-regulator/ This is a really good read and details a lot of the loopholes being used by predominantly PL clubs to circumvent P&S. With the clubs themselves voting on any rule changes and needing a two thirds majority to force any changes it appears very little will change soon. No wonder a lot of PL clubs are opposing the new Football Governance Bill.

Gestede is trying the 'conditioning' tactic - something he probably learned on his course. Keep expectations low is the mantra from Ewood as any ambition is stifled and suffocated. Waggott tried it with his interview a couple of summers ago when he did an interview at the Academy. Outside on a sunny day, in shirt sleeves trying to give off an aura of confidence he pretty much said that staying up was his aim. I think it was the same interview when he lied about buying a new coach.

Adam Wharton and Kristi Montgomery As kids. https://www.youtube.com/embed/JiT3SABLSC8

That is Valentin Joseph I believe.

I deduce from that he is thinking of himself, his seat in the Directors Box and a nice meal before each game. If I remember correctly he was for many years involved with the FA on some committee. Didn't he threaten legal action when someone asked him if Jack Walker was alive could he look him in the eyes? I'm pretty sure it was at a Supporters Consultation meeting and he stormed out.

Humility is a really good trait in any person as it gives off the right impression. He seems arrogant, cold and aloof. Throw in the most important ingredient for any manager, results and there is little to admire about him. I would respect him more if he at least tried to connect with the fans.

It was clear to me that something happened at half-time as you just couldn't have envisaged two contrasting performances without some radical actions or words in the changing room. It changed for me when Hedges thundered into a challenge (Hedges and thunder in the same sentence 😂) and the tempo and mentality was immediately different. No doubt rumours will abound over the next few days but whoever/whatever it was certainly worked.

He seems a cold individual and just doesn't endear himself to people. Tomasson and Eustace were extremely good in that respect but this bloke appears to lack any humility.